Tor UK scores two books from début author Max Doty

Tor UK, part of Pan Macmillan, has acquired The House That Eats the Dead by début author Max Doty.

Editorial director Sophie Robinson acquired world English-language rights from Maria Brannan at Greyhound Literary Agency, in a two-book deal that includes another untitled novel. The House That Eats the Dead will be published on 20th August 2026.

Robinson said: “The House That Eats the Dead is the freshest, most original and superbly fun take on the haunted house trope I have ever come across. Bold, with full-throttle pacing, sharp black humour and expert dread, readers are in for a brilliantly wild ride. I can’t wait to publish in Summer 2026.”

Doty said: "Once, when I brought up the subject of selling our house, my wife shushed me, warning that it would hear me. This was sort of a joke. And also not. The idea of a house with emotions took root from there. What if a house had desires? Hurt feelings? Hungers? Once those questions arose, I couldn’t stop writing about them. I hope that The House That Eats the Dead provides some interesting answers. I’m so thankful that the book has found an ideal home in Tor Nightfire, and I’m incredibly grateful to have found a publisher who loves the house as much as I do."

Brannan said: “Max has crafted such a compulsive story with a brilliantly dark thread of hunger that tugged me through the pages alongside Claire and her family. I’m delighted that Sophie and the Tor team will be bringing The House That Eats the Dead to life and I can’t wait for readers to step through the door of the house and find themselves immersed in this deeply unnerving, claustrophobic spiral of a horror novel.”